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Family Law

Family problems bring with them a great deal of emotional stress, and when all other avenues have been exhausted you need the calm, reassuring professionalism and support of an experienced lawyer to advise and guide you through a traumatic time.

Our Family Law Team is highly experienced with a very sympathetic approach at a time of great emotional worry. Our team includes members of Resolution, which is an organisation committed to resolving disputes in a non-confrontational way for the benefit of the whole family. We are able to offer you alternative methods of resolving disputes including Collaborative Law and Mediation.

Our team also includes members of the Law Society’s Children Panel, and Family Law (Advanced Panel). We are committed to reaching workable solutions for the benefit of your whole family, and wherever possible we will seek to use alternative methods to reach agreement.

Meet the team

If you would like to discuss matters further with a member of the team please text “Scaiff Family” to 81400 for a free call back.

Amanda Wright Partner Amanda is a partner in the firm and has been the head of the family department since 1995. She deals with all areas of family law including, divorce, ancillary relief, contact and residence disputes, domestic violence and care proceedings. Amanda is a member of Resolution and is also a trained Collaborative Lawyer and Mediator and strongly believes in try to settle disputes outside of court. Amanda is a member of the Law Society’s Children Panel, and Family Law (Advanced) Panel. Outside of work Amanda enjoys walking, horse-riding and cooking. awright@scaiff.co.uk

We offer practical, immediate help and advice in all areas of Family Law. For more information on the areas we cover please click on the links below:

• Collaborative Law & Mediation
• Divorce and Separation
• Property and Asset Division
• Pre- and Post-nuptial agreements
• Domestic Violence
• Residence and Contact for Children
• Care proceedings and Adoption

Funding

 We understand that finding the funding to deal with family disputes can be difficult. Please contact us to discuss the best way of funding our work for you.

Where it is available we offer funding through the Community Legal Service. If your matter falls within the scope of the funding we will assess your means to find out whether you are eligible.

Divorce and Separation

It is a sad fact of life that relationships often breakdown.

Each individual must come to terms with the breakdown of the relationship on an emotional level but they also need support and guidance in sorting out the legal side of things. We can offer advice about the options available and help you to make informed decisions about what to do next, so that you can begin to take control of the situation. We’re here to help, not to make a judgement.

Collaborative Law and Mediation

Collaborative Law

This is a process by which specially trained lawyers undertake to try to agree your case without going to Court and is a new way to resolve divorce and family disputes with dignity and respect. The process allows each party to receive independent legal advice, while negotiations take place during four-way meetings between the parties and their lawyers.

The parties make a promise at the outset not to seek the assistance of the Courts in resolving matters, and both sides therefore need to be committed to the Collaborative law process.

Mediation

This is in some ways similar to collaborative law, but the only difference is that you and your former partner would have to reach agreement with the assistance of the trained mediator.  You would not have legal advice at the time during such meetings and the mediator may not be a solicitor with knowledge of financial issues, for example, within divorce proceedings.

We are able to offer you the services of a mediator, as long as we have not provided you, or the other party with legal advice before the mediation starts. If you would prefer to receive legal advice from us, then we can arrange for a referral to be made to another local mediator.

Property and Asset Division

When a relationship breaks down, whether you were married or not, there is usually joint property to be divided.

The rules on division of property are different dependent upon whether or not you were married and we will explain these to you. We will advise you with advice on how to reach a settlement, be it through negotiation, mediation, collaboration or the Court process. We will help you to choose which of these methods is the best for you and your family.

Pre- and Post-nuptial agreements

Although getting married if entering into a civil partnership will be one of the happiest days of your life, it is understandable if you feel that you would like to safeguard your assets in the event that the relationship breaks down in the future. We can help you put into place an agreement that will let both parties know where they stand whether before or after the marriage or civil partnership.

Domestic Abuse

In cases whether there has been domestic abuse including domestic violence you may be told that you should seek an injunction through the civil courts. We are here to guide you through that process, and support you along the way.

Residence and Contact for Children

Your children, if you have them, are likely to be the most important things in your life.

When there are difficulties between adults, they can all to often get caught up in this no matter how hard you try to spare them.

We will help you to find an arrangement that suits your children, whether this is through negotiation, supporting you in mediation, use of the collaborative law process or through the Courts. We keep in mind the fact that an arrangement reached by agreement is far more likely to last than one imposed by the Court.

Care Proceedings

When children’s services become involved with your family, this is usually a deeply troubling and emotional time for all involved be it the child, the parent or another member of the family. Whatever your situation we will do our best to advise and guide you through the process. Public funding is almost always available for such work.